Sermon on Luke 12:13-21
Luke 12:13-21
Wednesday after Trinity Sunday, A+D 2021
A man asks Jesus to tell his brother to divide his inheritance with him. But Jesus answers,
“Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
Why does Jesus say this? Will He not come again to judge the living and the dead? How can He who will judge all things reject the task of determining justice between a man and his brother?
But if you were to have Jesus in front of you to see and to handle, what would you desire from him? It is certain that there was sin involved between the brother and his brother. Jesus calls him “man,” just as Paul upbraids the Corinthians when he says (1 Cor. 3)
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as man?
What an awful thing, for a brother to be divided against his brother! What is needed? An evenly divided inheritance? The right amount of money? Can money reconcile a man to his brother? Can money pay for envy and end strife? The man sought from Jesus earthly, carnal, fleshly things for a spiritual problem.
When someone unjustly takes from us what is earthly, it is something or someone hellish who has done it, but heaven has allowed it. What does God want? Mercy, and not sacrifice, as Jesus so often repeats. So also, the problem is not that we do not have enough stuff. It never is. It is that our flesh is ruling over our spirit, when the spirit should rule over the flesh.
I told my wife when we weren’t certain whether we would get this new beautiful house we live in, that there wouldn’t be less sin in the new house. Things get better and are more comfortable, that’s for sure, and we are grateful to God for it. But sure enough, I myself have proved that there is no less sin with more abundance by my own behavior. I’m sorry, Becky.
Stuff doesn’t help the soul. If you go to Jesus because you are overwhelmed by your problems, then go to Him for greater things than more money and more space and more earth that the flesh enjoys. He has riches that moth and rust don’t destroy, and He has mansion thieves can’t break in and steal from, and He has flesh that is now spiritual, and cannot decay, since He is risen indeed.
Your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. Be on your guard against all covetousness. All kinds of greed. Whether you are rich or poor, whether you feel content or are worried about so much, whether you have abundance or are living from paycheck to paycheck, greed is at the door, wanting to rule over you, but you must rule over it.
How? Well, the best way to describe how is to describe how not. Jesus does that. There was a rich man, whose land produced plentifully, and he didn’t know what to do with all his fruits. So he told himself what to do. He tore down his old barns, and built new ones. That’s not wrong. But his purpose was wrong. He says to himself, “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?”
What about the bellies of the hungry? What about the churches of the poor? What about the God who gave it all to you? But you think only of yourself the minute God grants you more, and that is the covetousness that ensnares your soul, so that you lay up treasures on earth, on dust that you will become again, because that is what you are, and you trusted in dust and not in the God who made you a living soul from the dust of the ground to worship not the creature, but the Creator who is blessed forever.
But the rich man is not blessed forever. Even his hope is not for forever. He says,
“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”
Thou hast. You have. For many years. Take thine ease. Take it easy. Enjoy yourself. Retire early, Eat, drink, and you will find rest for your soul.
He speaks to his soul as if an abundance of earthly goods could help it. He speaks of his soul as if it is flesh and dust. So Jesus calls the brother, “Man”, because he is like the Old Adam, carnal, fleshly, earthly, worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator who gave him everything.
Your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. Your life consists in the man who wasted his time when he had the chance to speak to Jesus and asked him to make sure he got more money instead of asking for mercy, for reconciliation, for a brother, for love.
But God said unto him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Jesus tells us that if we call our brother a fool, we are in danger of hellfire, but God calls this man a fool. Therefore if we have been fools with our earthly treasure, in our actions, in our hearts, in our dreams, in our desires, then let us come to Jesus with greater petitions than the inheritance a carnal man came to Him for.
I can honestly say that I never prayed God for a bigger house. It is not because I didn’t pray to God. I don’t mean to parade my virtue, but I will speak of the faith I share with all of you. I desire mercy. I desire mercy from God and from you. I desire the love that my soul needs to live on this earth during this short life. I desire Jesus. I want His Word, which is a treasure greater than my thoughts and dreams and any promise of wealth and ease this life has to offer.
I desire this because I know Jesus. I know Him as my Lord because He is Lord over all the earth. I drove back from my brother John’s house on Memorial Day from Cheyenne on Happy Jack, possibly one of the most beautiful roads in the world in May, and I saw the cattle on a thousand hills. I saw the mountains and the dry land that God’s hand had formed. I thought, “All of this belongs to God.” There is nothing I could give to God that He does not already have. But let Him have it. Let Him have me, and all that I am, and all that I have. Let Him have my wife and children, my greatest earthly possessions, because I want God to have them before I want them. I want Jesus to have me and all of you. I don’t want Him to divide my brother’s inheritance with me. I want my God and Brother to divide His inheritance with me. The inheritance of life eternal, of righteousness when I have none, of hope when the earth has none to offer, of forgiveness when I meet those who will not forgive me, but this Brother does.
He has all the riches of heaven, but He doesn’t store it up in heaven, but brings it down to this poor improverished earth, where there is envy and strife and greed and jealousy and division and lust and self-love that leads to utter misery – to this sad earth comes all joy; to this poor world comes the heavenly riches; to me a poor sinner comes the God whom I offended, but He is not offended when I come to Him and ask Him for more what this earth has to offer. When I come weary and heavy laden, having worked, but it is never enough, then He invites me into His home, and He shows me His inheritance, and tells me it is mine in my baptism, and He points me to the cross, where He gave up everything to restore to me everything I have lost, and I know His love, and I know what I need even more, and I desire it, and I pray for it. Dear Jesus, give me your word and faith, and let your will be done not just for me, but for my loved ones and my enemies and those who rob me, and those who malign me and say all manner of evil against me falsely. Give me heaven, because this earth is not enough. A big house is good, but I would rather be a beggar at the door of Your Church, than dwell in the tents of those who think that this earth could give me anything for my soul.
And now I have you, dear Lord Christ. Fruit more than the earth could bear. What shall I do? I shall tear down my old barns, and crucify the Old Man in repentance, and let You build me up with my brothers and my sisters into a House where You dwell with mercy and forgiveness and love, where greed is slaughtered, and love is planted, where covetousness is banished and charity is increased toward all mankind.
Dear Lord Jesus, as You have reconciled us to the Father by giving Your rich obedience and righteousness up on the cross for the salvation of man, so let this reconciliation move my heart to forgive and give those riches which I have received from You, for the glory of Your name and for the welfare of Your Church and all your poor in spirit. Amen.